Collapsible cabin



July 14, 1959 M. E. LUNDSTEDT COLLAFSZ IBLE CABIN 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed. Feb. 6, 1957 Fig.1

l/Vl/ENTUR MARGIT ELISABETH LUNDSTEDT Arramvtr July 14, 1959 Filed Feb.6, 1957 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MARG/T ELISABETH Ll/NDSTEDT ATTORNEYJuly 14, 1959 M. E. LUNDSTEDT COLLAPSIBLE CABIN 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledFeb. 6. 1957 INVENTOR MARG/T ELISABETH LU/VDSTEDT ATTORNEY nitecl tatesPatent 2,894,290 ConLArsmLE CABIN Margit Elisabeth Luiidstedt,Stockholm, Sweden Application February 6, 1951, Serial No. 638,520 7Claims. (Cl. 20-2) .of the collapsed cabin small in comparison with thatof athe erected cabin. Such a capacity of being collapsible" {is ofgreat importance for cabins or houses of a tern- ;-porary nature, suchas Weekend cottages, lumbering barracks, and so on, particularly forcabins constructed as trailers to be used together with motor vehicles;

The invention consists of a collapsible cabin comprising a plurality ofwall sections adapted by means of hinges to be erected from a boxcomprising a base sec- ;tion and a lid having approximately the samesize and zthe same height as said base section, wherein the base rsection and the lid are hinged to each other along along =si de so thatopening the lid and swinging it" into a position in the same level assaid base section the base :section and lid together will form a' floorarea about itwice as large as the base area of said collapsed box,:said' hinges being arranged below the top edge of the :associated basesection and lidata distance atleast eqilal to the wall thickness; thewall sections in the erected position being joined togetherandutightened' in the' corners by means of corner posts; while' eachofthe end walls of the cabin consists in the erected position of twowallxsections kept together and tightened by means of joining strips. Anembodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing, wherein: u uI v Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a cabin according to theinvention in a collapsed position, forming a box;

Figure la shows a similar view from the opposite side ofthebox; h H uFigure 2 is a perspective view of the cabin as erected for use, somepartsbeing broken away; u c

Figure 3 is an elevation of a detail showing thehinge arrangementbetween one of the wall sections and the base section; c I U Figure 4 isa detail horizontal section taken through the corner structure, showingthe appearance and positioning of a corner post;-

Figure 5 is a detail horizontalisection taken through. an end wall ofthe cabin, and showing ajoint in said" wall; U H t Figure dis averticalsection through the collapsed b'ox showing the interior thereof;

2,894,293 Patented July 14, I959 Figure 7 is a section taken along lineVllI--VII in Figure 6, and

Figure 8 is a vertical section, viewed from the interior of the erectedhouse according to another embodiment' Referring first to Figures la, 6and 7, it will be seen that the collapsed cabin has the shape of a boxstructure comprising a base section 1 and a top section or lid 2, havingsubstantially the same size and height as the base section 1 and beinghinged to the latter along a longitudinal side in and 2a, respectively,by means of hinges 14*- (Fig. 5 u u H In the position according toFigures 1 andrla the lid 2 may be locked to the base section 1 bylocking elements 15. The hinges 14 are situated at the side of the boxopposite to the locking elements 15 andare shown in Fig. 1a. In thiscollapsed condition the box receiving the walls and roof of the foldedcabin (Figs. 6 and 7) merely occupies a small space and can easily beconstructed as a'trailer to be coupled to a motor vehicle such as amotor car. To this end the box has recesses 16 at the lower edges of thelongitudinal sides. Mounted in a gap be tween the base section 1" andlid 2' are detachable rails or the like 3 and 4 adapted to seal the boxas will be described hereinafter.

Inorder to erect the cabin the locking elements 15 are unlocked and therails 13, i removed. The lid 2 is then opened by being swung about thehinges 14 as indicated by the arrow A in Fig.7. In the fully openedposition shown in Fig. 2 the lid 2 is situated side by side to the basesection 1 so that the total floor area of the base section 1 and the lid2 will be about twice as large as thatof the box shown in Fig. 1. Alongthe centre line of the composed floor area according to Fig. 2 a doubleseparation wall 1a, 2a (Fig. 5) extends in the longitudinal direction ofthe floor, said double Wall consisting of adjacent side walls ofthe basesection 1 and the lid 2 and carrying said hinges 14, The sides 1a, 2amay, if desired, be provided with a removable door 26 (Fig. la), whichon being removed will enable access to the interior of the collapsedbox. The opening formed on removing the door 26 will, in the erectedcabin facilitate convenient passage between the two halves constitutingthe floor of the .cabin as shown in Fig, 2.

, From the inside of the box consisting of the base sec ton 1 and thelid 2 the hinged wall sections of the cabin will be unfolded and erectedinto vertical position as indicated by the arrows B in Figs. 6 and 7.The wall sections comprise two end walls, 7, 8 and two longitudinalwalls 9 but Fig. 2 merely shows one wall of each kind. Each end wallconsists of two sections 7 and 8, of which section 7 is erected frombase section 1 while section 8 is erected from lid '2. Upon erection thesections 7 and 8 are interconnected by means of detachable joiningstrips .12 (Fig. 5) which preferably engage the wall sections 7 and 8 bymeans of a matching tongue and groove connection. The strip 12 isarranged in the central plane of the cabin.

At each corner of the cabin between the wall sections 7, 9 there ismounted a corner post 13 (Fig. 4) function ing' as a sealing andconnecting element similarly to the strip 12. By means of the strips 12and the corner posts 13 as well as packing strips 17 (Fig. 3)provided'b'etween the lower edges of the walls 7, 8, 9 and the top edgesof the base section 1 and the lid 2, respectively, the cabin may be madesubstantially free from draught.

The wall sections 7, 8, 9 are hinged to base section 1 (Fig. 3) and lid2, respectively, by means of hinges 18 so that they may be folded fromthe position shown in Figs. 6 and 7 into the position shown in Fig. 2and vice versa. The connection to the base section and lid,respectively, preferably is effected in the manner shown in Fig. 3according to which the adjacent ends of elements 1 and 9 are shaped in astep-like manner, so as to enable an improved sealing and also a greaterrigidity in the erected position. In order to prevent the surface of thewall sections 9 from protruding above the top edge of the base sectionin the collapsed position according to the dotted lines in Fig. 3 (seealso Figs. 6 and 7), the hinges 18 must be arranged spaced below saidtop by a distance at least as great as the thickness of the wall section9.

In the collapsed position according to Figs. 6 and 7 all wall sectionsshould be received within the interior of the box 1, 2. To this purposeit is necessary that the pair of wall sections 9 will be collapsed to adifferent level than the pair of wall sections 7, 8 that is to say thatthe hinges 18 of the wall sections 9 should be arranged at acorrespondingly different level than the hinges 18 of the wall sections7, 8. The difference in level corresponds to the thickness of the wallsections 9 and 7, 8 respectively. As a result, in the collapsed positionthe wall sections 9 on one side, and the wall sections 7, 8 will be indifferent levels, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. It is also shown in Fig. 2that the top edges of the longitudinal sides of base section l and thelid 2 are at a higher level than the top edges of the corresponding endsides, so that in the collapsed position (Fig. 1) there will be a gapbetween the base section 1 and the lid at the ends of the collapsed box.In order to fill and seal the gap thus formed in the box 1, 2 in thecollapsed position the aforesaid elements 3, 4 are provided.

The cabin may be provided with one or more windows 10 and a door (orseveral such doors) consisting of two sections 5, 6 of which section 6is hinged to the end wall section 7 by means of hinges 19; door sectionbeing hinged to base section 1 by means of hinges 19a. The division ofthe door into two sections is necessary in order to enable collapsing ofthe wall section '7. Sections 5, 6 of the door are also hinged to oneanother by means of horizontal hinges (not shown) in approximately thesame manner as the interconnection between wall section 9 and bottomsection 1 according to Fig. 3. In this manner the lower section 5 of thedoor will be locked in the collapsed position of the cabin and forms oneunit with the top section 6 in the erected position of the cabin.

The roof 11 may be double and consists for instance of moisture-proofdouble canvas or the like 11, 11a, attached to either sides of roofbeams 21 extending from one end wall to the other of the cabin. The topsection of the canvas roof extends downwards over the wall 7, 8, 9 whereit is fastened, for instance, by means of conventional spring-fasteners20 (Fig. 2). By the arrangement with two layers of canvas 11, 11abetween the beams and with air caught between said layers, an insulatedroof is obtained. The roof 11, 11a, 21 may be rolled up and stored inthe box 1, 2. In this it should be placed diagonally.

The roof may also consist of boards or sheets 23 as shown in Fig. 8, anda sealing and carrying roof rail 25 resting on supports 24 at the endsmay be arranged at the meeting edges of such boards or sheets 23 at thetop of the roof. 7

As a matter of course, a number of modifications are conceivable withinthe scope of the invention. Thus, for instance, the shape of the cabinis not confined to that shown in the drawing, and it is also to beunderstood that changes in the details of construction, arrangement andcombination of parts may be resorted to, provided that they fall withinthe scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A collapsible cabin comprising a box-like structure having two halvesof approximately equal size and height forming a base section and a lidrespectively and hingedly connected along one of the longitudinal sidesso as to be swingable into the same level for forming a cabin floorcorresponding to about the double base area of said boxlike structureand having a surrounding upright frame formed by surrounding frameportions of said box-halves, wall sections being hingedly connected tosaid frame portions of each of the box halves at three of the sidesdifferent from said longitudinal side, said wall sections being confinedby said box in collapsed state and forming in erected position uprightprolongations of said floorsurrounding frame so as to obtain verticalwalls.

2. A collapsible cabin according to claim 1, in which saidfloor-surrounding frame and said wall sections have about the samethicknes in order to obtain substantially continuous wall surfaces.

3. A collapsible cabin comprising a box having two halves ofapproximately equal size and height forming a base section and a lidrespectively and hingedly connected along one of the longitudinal sidesso as to be swingable into the same level for forming a cabin fioorcorresponding to about the double base area of said box and having asurrounding upright frame formed by surrounding frame portions of saidbox-halves, wall sections being hingedly connected to said frameportions of each of said box-halves at three of the sides different fromsaid longitudinal side, the wall hinges being arranged below the topedge of the associated edge portion of the floorsurrounding frame at adistance at least equal to the thickness of said sections, said wallsections being accommodated in said box in its closed state and formingin erected position vertical walls together with said frame.

4. A collapsible cabin comprising a box having two halves ofapproximately equal size and height forming a base section and a lidrespectively and hingedly connected along one of the longitudinal sidesso as to be swingable into the same level for forming a cabin floorcorresponding to about the double base area of said box and having asurrounding upright frame formed by surrounding frame portions of saidbox-halves, wall sections being hingedly connected to said frameportions of the box-halves at three of the sides different from saidlongitudinal side so as to be accommodated in substantially parallelposition in the closed box, the top edge of the frame portion and thelower edge of the wall sections having step-like shape so as to obtainimproved sealing and support in erected position of said wall sections.

5. A collapsible cabin comprising a box having two halves ofapproximately equal size and height forming a base section and a lidrespectively and hingedly connected along one of the longitudinal sidesso as to be swingable into the same level for forming a cabin floorcorresponding to about the double base area of said box and having asurrounding upright frame formed by surrounding frame portions of saidbox halves, wall sections being hingedly connected to said frameportions of said box-halves at three of the sides different from saidlongitudinal side, said frame portions having different height in orderto secure a vertical distance between wall hinges on different frameportions, corresponding to at least the thickness of said wall sections,in order to accommodate the last mentioned in parallel position in theclosed state of the box, and to allow to bring said wall sections intoerected position for forming vertical walls together with said uprightframe portions.

6. A collapsible cabin according to claim 5, in which rails areintroduced between opposite frame portions in the closed state of thebox in order to fill gaps arising between frame portions being lowerthan the maximum frame-portion height.

7. A collapsible cabin comprising a box having two halves ofapproximately equal size and height forming a base portion and a lidrespectively and hingedly connected along one of the longitudinal sidesso as to be turnable into the same level for forming a cabin floorcorresponding to about the double base area of said box and having asurrounding upright frame formed by surrounding frame portions of saidbox halves, part of the abutting longitudinal frame portions in the twobox halves being detachable in order to secure a continuous floorsurface through a passageway between the two floor sections formed bysaid two box-halves, wall sections being hingedly connected to saidframe portions at three of the sides difierent from said longitudinalside on each 6 of said two box halves, said wall sections beingaccommodated in said box in its closed state and forming in erectedposition vertical walls together with said frame portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS410,783 Chadd Sept. 10, 1889 1,340,047 Hansen May 11, 1920 2,293,569Sonino Aug. 18, 1942

